Birds of a Feather
by Dracomancer
Summary: In an age of Renaissance, lies and betrayal lurk around every corner. Who can you trust? In search of the truth Ealasaid, a female assassin seeks out Ezio Auditore in Venice to help restore her clan and to seek out the treasure of Eden.
1. If At First You Don't Succeed

**The previous story to this fanfic is,** _The Hidden Truths_

**Ealasaid de Forsythe **(Ealasaid of Forsythe)

**Ealasaid** (origin: Hebrew, Gaelic.) God is a vow.

**Forsythe** (origin: Gaelic, Scottish.) From Fear, a man, and Syth, upright, honest, stiff. from an Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name Fearsithe, composed of the elements fear 'man' + sith 'peace'. Some early forms with prepositions, as for example William de Fersith (Edinburgh 1365), seem to point to an alternative origin as a habitation name, but no place name of suitable form is known. The spelling Forsythe is associated chiefly with Northern Ireland.

**Age:** 25

**Height:** 5'6"

**Weight:** 155 lb

**Hair: **Light Brown

**Eye Color:** Grayish Blue

**Hometown:** Edinburgh, Scotland

She has always studied about the history of Assassin's including Altair and because of her rich family, she can afford to travel to other countries and or locations as she sees fit, but unknown to her family, she secretly trains as an Assassin and her ventures in Italy leads her to the conspiracies with the Auditore family. The clan she joined are under the name **Fidelio**, which means "faithful" and the origin being "Italian". Instead of assassinating in the daylight, they are masters of the night, taught how to infiltrate any building and to pick any lock. Unlike the clan that Altair follows, chanting the philosophy of "Nothing is True, Everything is permitted" **Fidelio** follows the belief of, "Consequence follows actions, actions speak louder than words." Simply philosophizing that everything an individual does has a good or bad consequence of some kind that all our lives are connected and based upon the actions of each other, and that words are meaningless without action. An individual can state one thing, and do entirely the opposite, and they are to be dealt with permanently in order to make a change. You can change a man's words, but you cannot change a man's core.

Although Ealasaid follows the clan's belief, she begs to differ. She does not believe in assassinations because she doesn't believe it is anyone's place to take a life. Everything happens for a reason, be it good or bad. The first target she was ever given she merely injured enough and threatened enough that if her target did not change their ways, she could hunt them down and kill them. She was a master of persuasion and could convince nearly anyone to see the truth in their ways, but the Fidelio Creed did not approve of her methods, believing that killing the targets was vital and didn't leave the path of the future open to chance. Not only that, but revealing herself openly to her targets that were left alive would eventually find out who she was and hunt her down, compromising the clan. They argued with her that her methods would not work on everyone and that she was borderline betraying everything the clan represented by lying about her true intentions of what she would do with the training she was given, but she was defiant on her stance.

For a temporary time her words became true as each of her assigned targets were reasoned with civilly, nearly convincing her clan that maybe killing wasn't always the answer; that is until she met her match. Her sixth target, a man named _**Amatore de Ferrari**_ was a ruling tyrant visiting from Italy who was having direct connections with her previous fifth target, _**Damiano de Greco**_ formerly a conspirator alongside _**Rodrigo Borgia**_. Although she had convinced Damiano to stop antagonizing his people, the manipulations of Amatore had once again corrupted Damiano with the help of simple bribery that Damiano was prone to fall for. Following the conspiracies with the dealings of Amatore and Damiano's, he further dealt into a much more construed conspiracy with the dealings of Giovanni Auditore. Delving deeper and deeper into both her targets she discovers about the assassination of Giovanni and his two sons, one that escaped alive; _**Ezio Auditore da Firenze**_. She learned how Ezio has been an assassin, trying to hunt down Borgia and resides somewhere near Florence, Italy. When she finally hunts down Amatore, she falls into a trap that Damiano helped Amatore construe. For the first time she is forced to try to assassinate both her targets out of mere self defense and learning for the first time that words alone cannot change a man, that sometimes action must be taken. She fought for her dear life, nearly being raped as she was caught by an ambush, but what was worse was that her fears were realized as soon enough her clan was compromised and they no longer allowed her to be a part of Fidelio. She was chastised from the clan as some of the key members were caught and hung at the gallows. With nowhere to run and fear of her family being discovered and with no help from her clan, she fled to Florence to seek out Ezio, hoping that with his help, they can both stop the Borgia conspiracy.

**If At First You Don't Succeed**

By the graces of miraculous chance, Ealasaid had made it to Florence, Italy, with some money that had been lent from her father. She had no time to stay and heal, her clan compromised and her family in possible danger. She implored them to stay with neighboring relatives until the Fidelio clan conspiracy was cleared. Even though there was little information on this man named Ezio let alone his temperament on his targets, if he was anything like the assassin's before them, that was all she needed to know. Whether he followed the older creed or his own idealisms, it didn't matter. He was after Borgia, that being the key component. Even if he were to end up being the opposition; the enemy of one's enemy is a friend as they say, so there was little to worry about for Ealasaid. However, the one thing that she was in lack of was time, but there were small hints and clues along the way that helped speed up the process. Ealasaid had found that Borgia concealed recent dealings in Scotland. She didn't know of his intentions and what he had in stored for Scotland, but something told her it was more engrained than meets the eye; something beyond petty materialism, desires of the flesh, or simple tyranny.

Amatore kept describing something gin regards to a piece of Eden, a treasure that held unimaginable knowledge and power. The only Eden she knew of was the location described in the book of Genesis of the Bible in the beginning chapters for the man, Adam, and the woman, eve were created in the garden of Eden, but the book described the Eden as closed and guarded by a flaming sword and no one of which knows the location of or has ever seen it. The only thing that would logically make sense is this treasure merely being metaphorically described as a piece of Eden, a treasure and yet powerful in the eyes of men? Was this something so rare that it was worth a whole kingdom? It didn't make sense to her, not for as long she had been an assassin, studying the minds of men and what drove their motives for doing the things they do in politics, power, and control. Dare she say this so called treasure could be not of this world? Ludicrous, but these men were focused on it, and that was her main objective. There was no other objective aside from protecting her family and somehow restoring the broken Fidelio clan despite being exiled from them. She owed that much for everything she had done.

Florence

A bustling city of beauty, nature, corsets, and cod pieces. Harlots, money, and betrayal also resided here as well as in other cities it seemed in Italy. There were no such things in Scotland, at least not at these extremes. It was unfamiliar territory for Ealasaid as she contemplated how society has changed, and not for the better. However, the advancements in medicine and mechanisms were astounding especially by a man named Leonardo Da Vinci. She had heard of his exploits not only as a painter, but also as an inventor and that he too resided in Florence, but according to local merchants she was talking to, Leonardo had recently moved his shop to Venice. Nevertheless, Ezio was the prime target, but no one was giving any answers. She merely came up empty hand. However, the one lead had been received when a local merchant stated seeing Ezio Auditore many times in Leonardo's shop.

It could only then be speculated that Leonardo and Mr. Auditore were friends. This gave her an advantage because if she could not find Ezio, then maybe Leonardo could lead her to him. However, traveling far and wide with still freshly open wounds had taken its toll. Wanting to give her body a chance to rest from the recent ordeal she had escaped back in Scotland she sat quietly inside a dormant room a doctor had had her seated in. Her wounds were beyond simple scratches and cuts, requiring her to remove articles of clothing, but this in turn benefited her sights from being seen, just in case anyone had followed her this far from home. It was a chance she wasn't willing to take.

"My dear lady, I am baffled at the numerous cuts. How did you get these?" The doctor asked in curious concern as he came back into the room carrying several bandages and supplies to help her mend and on her way.

"It was an ugly fight to say the least," Ealasaid answered in blunt honestly.

"I think that goes without saying," the doctor bluntly agreed with understanding worry as he went about looking at her wounds. Although she had not received any injuries that were impaling of any kind, the cuts were almost deep enough to be considered a laceration, but the blood had stopped shortly after she had wrapped the wounds the first time. Amatore was quite fast with the dagger with close hand to hand combat and since he had trapped her in a room, it was just between him and Ealasaid. Mere second dodging did well enough on its own to evade Amatore's blade from infliction of death, but it was better than being stabbed multiple times let alone raped. There were at least 2 deep cuts along the assassin's right bicep, one long one against the left upper thigh, another which was sliced nicely against the right side, and then one that snuck upwards along the neck. Her clothes had some nicely stained blood spots to say the least, but it could have been much worse. The doctor merely sighed, finishing his examination and bandaging.

"I'm sorry, but I simply do not understand why a beautiful woman like yourself would have such scaring let alone be in a fight. A fight is a man's ugly business…"

"…just as much as it is for a woman. I can handle myself."

The doctor chuckled nervously in reply, "Mi scusi! I did not mean to offend."

Ealasaid sighed. It wasn't the first time she got even in the slightest, a sexist reaction and or judgment. Even though female Assassin's were more common in her culture, it was still not always welcomed especially in a _man's world_. It was this way of thinking that made it ever more difficult for Ealasaid to hold back her blade when provoked or irritated. It was this same reason that she was not easily approached by men, giving off a tight and or defensive vibe.

"It's quite alright. Capisco," she stated with an almost frustrated tone.

"If you don't mind me asking, I couldn't help but notice the robes you were wearing when you took off your cloak."

"Yes? What of them?" She replied in irritation, getting annoyed by his constant questions.

"I have seen similar robes like that before…" and as if on instant cue "…what?! Where?!"

Finally getting a more pleasant reaction from the woman the doctor smiled and answered gladly, "A man that used to come to me for treatment wore similar styled robes. Only his were mainly white with red striping and a strange symbolized belt."

"Did you by chance know his name?"

Sighing a little, trying to remember, "Solo un po. Let's see…what was it? Anzio…Fazio…um…"

"…does Ezio ring a bell?" she suggested in hopeful interruption and as if in almost utter surprise, "Ah yes! That's the name! Ah, I am such idioto, how could I forget such a man?"

"Ezio Auditore da Firenze."

"Ah, so you know him."

Shaking her head, "No, at least not personally. I'm looking for him though. Do you know where he is? It is very important that I see him."

"I am sorry signora. Non lo so." The doctor sighed again, trying his best to be of help to the pretty lady.

"Very well then. Lei è molto gentile, grazie molto."

"Prego! Anything for a beautiful woman."

Feeling a bit more at ease with the politeness of the doctor, she blushed at his comment as she began to place her robes back on, but the minute she got off the examining table was when a dull pain burst from her bruised ribs.

She may have missed the stabbing jabs of Amatore's knife, but he managed to get a few punches into the stomach, which unfortunately caught contact with a few lower ribs. They weren't broken, but they were bruised, possibly fractured. There was no way to tell without a more proper examination, but having nearly been raped she was not in the mood to be touched further.

"The wrappings and balm should help to heal the bruising, but I implore you to stay and heal for a day or two so I can keep an eye on you. Moving around like that so much for so long could make your condition much worse."

"I can't. Devo andare."

"Very well then. Buona fortuna!"

"Grazie molto. However, I must ask, how do you get to the entrance of the city? I've forgotten."

"Vada dritto! e poi giri a destra. Can't miss it."

"A dopo and thank you again for all your help. It should jump start my search."

Shrouding herself in a black cloak to conceal not only the strangely defined outfit, but also her temperament, she ventured out once again to the front of the city for transportation to Venice. Escorted to a large boat, her journey began, taking a day's time to get there, but it wasn't long before Ealasaid found herself in the watering city of moats and boats. Approaching the city from the outside, it was much more beautiful than she could ever imagine, and unfortunately a lot larger than what it looked like on a map. Of course anything on a map was never true to scale, but she just never imagined a city filled with watery roads would be so vastly large. She had only been to Venice once as a little girl so it brought about a small sense of familiarity.

The weather was beautiful and the sun shining high in the sky, making the water around the city sparkle like diamonds; nothing more perfect than to make an assassin in black clothing stick out like a fly in a glass of milk. Assuming Ezio was an assassin of daylight and not like the ones in her clan that stalked their prey in shadow, she kept her cloak closed over her robes considering the fact that if Ezio was accompanying Leonardo and Leonardo resided in this city, her robes might be recognized as an assassin. And the last thing that was needed was to be mistaken for Ezio. Better to be safe than sorry.

Walking down the ramp from the docked ship one couldn't help but notice the architecture of the city was delicately designed with the common sighting of a _fleur de lis_. It was a symbol that originated from France and the meaning of the name was literally "flower lily". The dock was surrounded by wooden pedestals that stuck out of the water, accompanied by very elongated boats that were steered with an extremely long stick; absolutely stunning. It was like walking into a dream and it reminded Ealasaid of the beauty of the forests of Scotland, giving the same euphoria. However, as beautiful as the city was, she couldn't let her distract from the focused objective. A nearby meat seller seemed convenient enough as she approached the man, asking him where to find the whereabouts of Leonardo Da Vinci. However, to her dismay he did not recognize the name. She sighed and walked around until some answers could be given. However, it didn't seem to matter who was asked, no one could tell where Leonardo was let alone if they knew that man.

That could mean only one thing; Leonardo must have recently arrived here…or…he hadn't been here long enough for the residence to know him. If Leonardo could not be a lead then maybe Ezio's physical description, but the only thing she could go off of was her own outfit, which was also of no use. She didn't want to blatantly point out she was an assassin _looking_ for an assassin. It was unwanted attention she did not want to risk, so she was stuck looking for him in such a vast city after a man who was presumably whom a master of concealing his presence. She never had to hunt down her own kind before let alone in broad daylight, but it wasn't long before luck had struck. Up high in a rather ridiculous location was a noticeable wanted poster. To manipulate social discretion, Ealasaid used a nearby ladder to get to the poster as she I climbed up and took it down, holding it in her hands as she studied the warmly dried parchment that was still fresh of the sunlight's heat.

This was it; this was the man she was looking for. Ezio Auditore. It was merely a head shot, but it was enough to give her an idea of what she was looking for. Folding the paper up nicely, she placed it inside her pocket to hopefully not only decrease Ezio's notoriety, but to use it as identification to find Ezio. However, this proved to be undesirable as the guards apparently didn't appreciate her enthusiasm of helping a fellow assassin as one cried out, pointing at her as other guards gathered.

"Is there a problem officer?" She asked with casual bluffing ignorance. She might have been physically a woman, but incognito she looked more like a man with the concealing of her hair tied back and breasts wrapped down for better use of momentum. Neither was she a lightweight considering the amount of training that had been done, which in turn gave her a toned physical structure. It had to be that way in order to be agile, swift, and possess maneuverability of an assassin. So it was common she was mistaken for a man, especially considering Ealasaid was the first woman, at least in the Fidelio clan, to ever become a female assassin. It was because of these things the guards assumed she was a man, but it still made them suspicious of the cloak covering her body and even more suspicious of the fact that she had taken down a wanted poster.

"What are you doing up there?! You are not authorized to remove those posters!"

Using witty logical reasoning, "But sir, these buildings are to become artifacts years from now. It is my job to make sure they are not littered with random parchments to help display their beauty. The posters can be placed on the street side."

A few of the guards felt the _man's_ reasoning was sensible enough, but one of the guards was unconvinced as he came out of the group and demanded, "Drape back your cloak! I want to see what you are wearing _boy_!"

Ealasaid bit her lip as she nervously draped back her cloak, revealing her robes, hoping the guards wouldn't make the distinction in the design, but unfortunately for her he _did_.

"Assassino! Get him!" He cried out.

"Merda!" Ealasaid swore as she bolted off the rooftop and onto the street, wanting to use the advantage of shadow from the buildings since being on the rooftops would make her to obvious to spot out.

It hurt to run, considering her ribs were bruised, but adrenaline spoke otherwise. The guards were quick to follow and apparently were just as quick to catch up. Before the guard had a chance to grab onto Ealasaid's cloak, she had already quickly tied it off and let it fly into the guard's face as he fell to the ground. That gave ample chance to run down an alley way that was full of merchants and people and maybe blend into the crowd. Of course the guards kept crying _assassin_ which only startled the crowd as people screamed and backed away, taking her own form of cover. The bruising was taking a toll on her body as her breathing became stiffer and luck would have it that at the end of the tunnel piled another group of guards. Trapped, she looked above to find a way out maybe by climbing, but the way was blocked by wooden gating that seemed to loom over like a canopy. There was no way out and with so many guards, it would be foolish to fight, risking more injury and possibly death. Having no other option, she was going to try to do what no assassin has ever done, and that was to convince the guards that she wasn't an assassin.

"It's too late for you now, there is no escape," the guard insisted with assurance that he had caught his prey.

"Put your hands where I can see them." Doing as told as she lifted her hands and kept them floating halfway in midair, "Look, I think there's been a misunderstanding here."

"Keep quiet! Let us see who this assassin is," the guard roughly throwing back her hood as he was shocked to see what he had unveiled.

"Cos'è questa cosa? A woman?!"

Ealasaid just merely smiled as she repeated in a more feminine tone of voice, "As I said before gentlemen, I believe this is a simple misunderstanding. I am no _assassin_."

"Then why did you rip down that poster and run away?!"

Being versed in the way of the tongue, this was her time to shine once more, being a master of persuasion; she felt she could talk herself out of any situation, even this.

"As I told you before, I find it atrocious that beautiful architecture is littered with simple wanted posters. They should be placed more accordingly where the public eye can see them and not on some inconspicuous spot. Besides, I think that is irrelevant to the situation signor. That man on the poster is the one you are searching for is it not?"

Being distracted by the redirected question the guard answered simply, "Si."

"And I am _clearly_ not that _man_, correct?" Finding her questions to be of sense he continued to answer,"Si."

"Then what is exactly the problem?" Despite the logical reasoning in her questions, the guard didn't let down. "You ran away, which means you are hiding something."

He poked out his spearing weapon, inches away from Ealasaid's stomach, a form of intimidation she presumed. He was smarter than he looked. This was going to be a little tougher to get out of than originally thought. Luckily the wanted poster only had a headshot, which completely concealed the rest of Ezio's outfit so unless the guard had actually seen Ezio before in person, she carefully assumed that the guard could not distinguish the similarity in outfits or the guard would have mentioned something by now. Feeling the guard needed repeated assurance, she pulled out the poster she had taken and held it up, unfolded, beside her head.

"_This_ is the _man_ you are looking for. _This_ is not me. I am not an assassin, but _he_ is. You may feel I am hiding something, but the matter of fact is gentlemen is that we are _all_ hiding something. We all have our secrets, so your reasons for chasing me is not good enough reason let alone is it authorized enough to bring me in for questioning. You yelled at me and claimed I am an assassin when I am clearly not, so I naturally panicked when you began to chase me. And it is not gentlemanly to yell at a lady now is it?"

The guard opened his mouth to retort, but he paused in response. That was the response she was looking for as she sighed with relief. It meant her words had finally seeped through like a snake's venom into the blood.

"You…do make a point."

"Indeed. Now I am sorry for the trouble I have caused you…"

"…no no, it's okay. It was my mistake, but next time don't run away, okay?!"

"Capisco," she replied as she bowed her head slightly and placed her hood back over her scalp.

"By the way, I noticed your accent is different and yet you understand Italiano. May I ask where you are from?"

"Scotland. I am visiting..." searching for the words to give "…family. Imparo I'italiano da un mese. L'italia è un paese meraviglioso."

The guard smiled as she explained having studied the language for one month and found the country to be beautiful. The guard was rather surprised with her answer let alone her speaking well in the Italian tongue. The casual started conversation between them was helping to further her deception to the guard of her true intentions and indenty.

"Scotland? Well that is rather far away, but you're Italiano is very good. Needs a little work on pronunciation, but you'll get around just fine. Well, I must return to my post. I hope your stay is a bit more welcomed."

"Grazie molto."

"Prego."

The guards finally left as the citizens in the area calmed down. And it was then one remaining guard walked up to return her black cloak.

"Eccolo, my lady."

"Grazie molto. Since we are on the topic of assassins, do you know the places where this man is most commonly sighted?"

"Why do you ask? Do you know the man?"

In attempts to find the location of Ezio, yet again it had created suspicion as the guard asked her mistrusting of her intentions. Apparently Ezio was of bigger trouble then she had hoped. It was making it nearly impossible to keep quiet of such matters without alarm.

"Well I want to stay clear of him considering its my first time to this city. I mean who knows what type of man he is. Not even the heralds can tell me his intentions since they clearly are easily bought over by bribery. You can't trust them, and I want to ensure my safety by avoiding areas he's most commonly seen in."

Avoiding the guards suspicion yet again, he answered "Ah, good point signora. Let's see. Well, he's been in the west side of the city in the Mercato Vecchio district. He's also been spotted in the north-west district of San Lorenzo, the east district of La Rosa colta, Ospedale Degli Innocenti, and Santa Croce."

"I see….well at least that knocks out the south and north district. And what district are we in now?"

"The Mercato Vecchio district."

"Grazie. I appreciate all the help. Oh before I leave I have one more question…"

"…si, signora?" She was going to ask him if he knew of or where to find Leonardo Da Vinci, but she had a feeling that maybe asking too many questions would lead to unnecessary dealings.

"Um, never mind actually. Thanks again."


	2. Hello My Hooded Friend

**Hello My Hooded Friend**

Considering she was already in an area that Ezio had been spotted in, Ealasaid decided to walk along its streets, but if he was a properly trained assassin, then it would be safe to assume that he not only was probably blending in with the crowds, but also taking direction in places that citizens wouldn't normally go. To coincide with this strategy of finding the Italian hunter, Ealasaid decided to venture to a docking area where they kept the elongated boats. Paying a good amount to the merchant, she had him row her around so she could maybe cover more ground in secrecy. This objective may have proven to be quit annoying up till this point, but it reaped its rewards in its own way. As the boat began to row, she was given a small tour through the many watery streets that went under multiple small bridges as they passed by the beautiful architecture where many designs could be seen and flower pots that hung over wooden pedestals that stuck out of the walls.

While passing under bridges she took careful notice of any strange sounds that might emit into the air. For instance the sound of screams from the rooftops that would most likely be caused by a ruckus with the guards going after a target that wasn't authorized to be roaming where they were not allowed; a common assassin running ground. To her dismay, the sounds around her were nothing more than the bustling of citizens and merchants selling their prized items. It was irritating despite being given leading clues to find this man, this _Ezio Auditore_. The sun was now ever so slightly beginning to set, giving Ealasaid the advantage since she was more accustomed to chasing targets at night, but finding Ezio would be even more impossible since he would most likely be sleeping at this time. It seemed this mission further proved that every advantage had just an equal of a disadvantage that was proving tiring.

Wanting to stretch out her muscles, she laid on her back with arms behind the head and staring up at the sky. It was refreshing to see the world in different perspectives and angles, always wondering what it's like being an insect and being able to crawl into the nooks and crannies of spaces in between and seeing entirely different worlds right under the feet. The boat riding was proving to be rather soothing as she closed her eyes and let the sounds of the environment echo into her mind; the rustling water, the passing of chirping birds, the footsteps of citizens passing by over the bridges, and mostly the sounds of nearby musicians. It was almost therapeutic and for several minutes she was entranced by the watered city, but that trance was quickly broken but a sudden ill feeling. Quickly opening her eyes she laid back on her forearms slightly while looking around with sharp eyes. It was the palpable sensation of being watched as the boat rowing merchant began to approach another small bridge and as they approached close to it, it was then Ealasaid noticed a strange clothed man standing with arms crossed and leaning up against a wall adjacent to the one in front of him. His head was hooded, but she could feel him staring straight at her through shadowed eyes.

Quickly taking out the parchment of the wanted poster, she compared the strange man with the poster as they approached closer, nearing under the bridge and it was then she realized that the man had to be Ezio. The clothing matched the description the doctor had told her _and_ the poster...

Finally, he had been found, or one should say he had found her. Just before they had passed under the bridge, she caught sight of a smirk on the man's face accompanied by a small scar that caressed his lip in a pale tint. When reaching the other side under the bridge she immediately stood up and faced in the man's direction only to find that he had disappeared. Not wanting to give up the only probable opportunity she would have, Ealasaid quickly lept off the boat and onto a nearby ledge on the wall, getting herself on top of the main bridge line so she could look around. Gone. The man was just simply gone. Having the strangest sense that this was a game of cat and mouse, she ventured up to the rooftops, but not without trepidation for the chase. Still unknowing of the man's true intentions she could help but wonder if she was his target let alone if he was willing to listen. She would have to tread carefully.

Having made it to the rooftops by ladder, she peered around and noticed several guards in the area, none of which seemed to take notice of her presence. Wanting to stay out of trouble she bolted behind a tower wall. What was she to do now? She wanted to find Ezio either by rooftop view or by street view, but there were so many guards. It was a strong reminder as to why she so favored hunting at night instead of day. However, this was not to her dismay as it seemed something had caught the guard's attention and soon enough they began to cry out "assassino!" At first she thought she had been spotted, but as she turned her head around the corner she took notice of a white blur that had flashed by in the distance, the guards chasing after it like a hungry lion after a fresh meal. As her focused cleared, there was no doubt in her mind that it was Ezio that was running away. Whether he had got the guards to chase him on purpose or by accident did not matter. She had to get to her objective as she began to run, but it seemed running had proven harder than originally thought considering she had bruised ribs not to mention having to jump and then land with a harsh grace, making it ever more painful.

Arrows flew in the air as the man dodged each of them with ease, taking the worry out of Ealasaid as she hoped he would get away without any harm or her having to intervene. In the ensuing chase, the guards still unaware of her presence as she was a large distance behind them, she noticed it odd that Ezio was not fighting back. It was more of her own forte to run and avoid hurting anyone, but to see other assassin's practice such pleasantries was not common. It was either attack and kill those who aided the Templars, even if it was just their job so they could feed their family, or be caught and interrogated. However, she had to admit that it was a lot easier to dodge arrows then to stop and fight them off while risking getting ambushed by archers. So she had no choice but to keep running and deal with the pain as she followed the ongoing ruckus.

Ezio and the guards had run for quite a few minutes before the pure white assassin suddenly decided to take a drastic turn in his path as he jumped to a neighboring rooftop and then down a few levels. A few of the guards followed, but the rest stayed behind being weary and tired from the chase, leaving Ealasaid also rather exhausted since she had pain to deal with that slowed her down a lot more. This quickly proved to be a radical problem as the guards finally caught sight of her and turned their attentions to her being the new target.

"What? Look over there! ASSASSINO!"

Her eyes became wild as she realized she was now in danger. Nearly tripping over her own feet she sharply turned around and began to run in the opposite direction as some nearby archers began to fire arrows at her. Whether Ezio had intended this to be a double diversion so he could make his escape, or if he was simply just running away, was irrelevant now as Ealasaid was forced to flee for her life. She dodged what arrows she could, but one of the guards decided to pull a fast one as he took a small dagger and threw it, hitting directly into the back of Ealasaid's thigh as she was jumping midair across a rooftop to another. The instant jabbing sensation threw off her mid air flight rhythm as it made her jolt at the last second, hitting the edge of the next rooftop as she slowly began to slide off of it, catching the edge at the last second with one hand as she grabbed the dagger with her other and took out the weapon from her thigh. The guards and archers had made it to the edge of the rooftop as they were ready to aim and shoot at her. She had no choice but to let herself drop below as she let go and let herself fall into a haystack that was right beneath as luck had struck at the last remaining possible second.

Falling hard into the cart that was filled with the hay, she forced herself to quickly get out of it as she toppled over the side of its edge and onto the ground, immediately picking herself up, but just as she was about to bolt off in a run, a guard that was originally pursuing Ezio and had given up, was coming down the same alley way and quickly caught her from behind. She struggled as the guards from the rooftops were quickly descending, giving her little time before she would be ambushed with no escape and no choice but to fight. She wanted to avoid taking lives at all costs so she used what fighting techniques she knew to try to get out of the guard's grasp, first elbowing upward and backwards into the guard's face, twisting her body sharply, and then jabbing backwards into the guard's stomach with her other elbow. The sharp twist had caused one of her ribs to feel like it had cracked as she yelped out audibly, her voice echoing in the alleyway as she was finally set loose once more.

Staggering to get her balance again, holding her stomach ever more tightly, she began to run once again just as the rooftop guards had touched ground level, yelling and screaming "assassino" as they bolted after her down the streets. Adrenalin rushing and citizens crying out as they dodged out of the way, Ealasaid pushed her way through the crowds, trying desperately to find another route to take to ultimately take her out of the guard's sight, but the more she ran the more attention it drew as militants from nearby outposts caught attention of the ruckus and began to join in on the chase. It was like a rabbit running from a pack of wolves as Ealasaid was quickly beginning to lose strength and energy from exerting herself for too long. She was now desperate for help, but not all hope was lost as the ruckus was still in the attention of yet another man that stood in the shadows and watched. With the final guards passing by, this man followed after in silence. Tipping over crates and knocking over items for sale, Ealasaid used whatever she could manipulate to slow down her attackers as she cut down yet another alleyway only to come into…a _dead end_.

There was nothing to climb on, and nothing to hide in as she was instantly cornered, a now rather large group of guards smiling at the confidence that the chase was now over.

"Thought you could get away assassino?"

The leading guard approached as he appeared showing himself adorned with a metal helmet, chain link clothing, and a red cross symbol painted onto a pure white tunic.

"I'm going to have quite a bit of fun with _you_."

"Templar bastard," Ealasaid muttered to herself. It would be foolish to fight an entire group of guards and Templars in her condition as she attempted to make peace, "Look, I don't want to make anymore trouble. I will come with you in peace on the promise not to draw my sword…" but her efforts were in vein as the Templar merely laughed, taking heavy steps towards her "…peace is not an option for you, only _death_."

Her eyes became wild as it felt like death was approaching her, but then just as the Templar was about to strike, his arms raised high with his sword about to come down with a vengeance, he suddenly slumped over and fell flat face upon the ground, revealing a rather large dagger sticking out of his back, blood staining heavily into his white pure tunic.

Nearly shaking with sound relief, Ealasaid shot her gaze upwards as she looked at the entrance to the alley way to find that a man was standing idly in the position of having just thrown a weapon. It seemed like an ordinary man, but a man willing to help her out. And behind this man were similar dressed fighters that were giving the guards grief as a brawl broke out. The man that had thrown the dagger merely nodded his head in her direction and then quickly attended back to his friends to help out with the fight.

"Mercenaries," Ealasaid assumed as she slowly began to make her way towards the entrance to the alley, using the distraction as her getaway, but it seemed that luck was not entirely on her side as the Templar who was assumed to be dead was very much alive. He had staggered and forced himself to his feet as he took the very dagger that was meant to help Ealasaid, and had stabbed it through her side from behind. She cried out in agony as her screams echoed throughout the surrounding region, catching the attention of the mercenaries as one of them quickly ran over, taking his sword, and attempted to attack the Templar. The Templar quickly let go of Ealasaid, withdrawing the elongated dagger from her side, pushing her away just to catch the mercenary's sword strike at the last second as the two began to battle. The Scottish assassin had fallen partially to the ground as Ealasaid struggled to keep herself balanced. She groped along the nearby wall, using it as balance to keep her steady as she began to bleed heavily from the right side of her stomach.

She couldn't help but wonder what compelled these strangers to help her even though she was fully aware that not everyone was on the Templar's side, that there were those who aided the assassin's cause, but still it was strange to her as she staggered her way out of the alley and past the group of guards that was still busy being fought against by the mercenaries. Leaving a dripping blood trail, Ealasaid finally made her way down the street, citizens stepping away from her in caution as she slowly took steps to a safer area, barely holding herself up as her vision began to blur and the pain becoming ever more overwhelming with each step she took. Finally she had found her way towards a nearby bench as she plopped herself upon it, bleeding and injured, alarming two women that were sitting on opposite ends of it as they quickly got up and moved away from her.

Ealasaid did not care however as she just wanted so badly to rest, but there was nowhere to truly go and she did not know the location of any doctor. In the mix of daze and grave discomfort, something had caught Ealasaid's eyes as she looked towards the left and saw a man standing idly amongst a crowd, but he stuck out to her because his clothing was so different, his head completely covered by a hood…_ a hood_.

"M-Merda," she stammered.

It was Ezio and he began to approach her. Her pain had caused her to become distrustful however as she was nervous by his approach. She still did not know his intentions and fear began to overtake her as she felt like a target being narrowed in on. Slipping off the bench she turned a corner down another alley as she made haste away from her new pursuing target to reach the other end. Had she been more alert and not in pain, then she would have logically reasoned that it was most likely Ezio that had sent the group of mercenaries to help her, but logical reasoning had escaped her from the pain she was in as natural fearful instinct took a hold of her, convincing her to continue running until there was a safe haven to be found. She could hear the man's steps become quicker as they were gaining up behind her, fearing she would be stabbed from behind once more as she sharply turned around and withdrew her sword.

"Stay away!"

The man simply stopped in his tracks as he held up his hands, showing he was unarmed and not going to attack.

"Quale è il suo nome?" He asked in his natural language for her name as she answered in a slight quiver, "E-Eal…asaid."

"Hmm, strange name for a boy. You put on quite a chase let alone a ruckus. Not very quipped in the ways of the assassin are we?"

His simple sarcasm blazed right by her as she continued to hold her sword, but not with much strength as her hand trembled from the weight of the blade.

"It is obvious you are not one of the Templars, but I must implore an answer from you when I ask if I am one of your targets."

Ealasaid's hand that held her sword slowly began to lower from pure exhaustion as she nearly dropped it, almost tripping over her own feet to keep from falling as she staggered into the alley wall beside her, slowly sliding along down it as she ended up sitting upon the ground. The pure white assassin saw this as opportunity to approach her, but she quickly lifted her sword once more with warning, keeping the man from taking any more steps.

"You are…E-Ezio Auditore…correct?" She managed to stammer between breaths.

"That would be correct." Letting out a deepened exhale, she lowered a sword a bit more as her eyelids became heavy. Ezio took another cautious step towards her as she gasped slightly, jerking back a bit away from him as he sighed.

"It is alright. I promise I will not hurt you, but I would appreciate it if you laid down your weapon so that I may attend to your wounds before you bleed to death."

Feeling he was being sincere, she finally let her hand become limp, sword still in grasp as her muscles relaxed from being so tense. Seeing that it was safe to finally approach the raven black assassin, he knelt upon one knee and slowly took her sword and placed it back in its sheath. Judging from the assassin's much smaller physique then his own he assumed Ealasaid was a young lad as he commented, "You seem to be able to endure quite a bit for a boy your age. You must have been trained in your youth, but it's obvious you are not from around here considering that name of yours. Tell me, where are you from?" He asked as he gently brushed back the top of her hood, revealing that she wasn't quite what he imagined her to be as his expression showed obvious surprise.

"Scotland," she answered in almost a whisper, the life fading from her body.

"A woman? Well now…that is…quite a surprise," Ezio nearly chuckled in response. This was the first time he had ever met a female assassin. It brought about an instant intrigue. Her hair was light brown and her eyes a grayish blue; typical features of northern European descendants, though normally those of Norway or Scotland had blonde hair and blue eyes. Nonetheless it was features Ezio was not used to seeing since the Italians displayed more of darker hair and eye features. Entranced as he was at the moment, she was fading fast and needed to get her to a doctor's attention. Not having the strength to hold herself up, she began to topple over as Ezio was quick to hold her up in his arms, gently lifting her above the ground as her assassin garments hung loosely. Ealasaid smiled as she looked up into the darkness of Ezio's hood that shrouded over his head now that she was able to see his face close up.

"Y-You're beautiful."

Ezio almost laughed as he took careful steps to carry here to a doctor, "I thought that was my line." His Italian accent was thick, but understandable enough and quite charming no doubt.

"What business brings you all the way to Italy?"

"You did. I was looking for y-you," as she began to gag and cough.

"We'll save the talk for later. I'm sure you have much to tell me."

Ealasaid had woken up hours later, not recalling at all that she had fell unconscious. All that she knew now was that she as in what appeared to be a doctor's medical room, laying upon a twin sized bed with a sheet covering her freshly bandaged body. She found it difficult to remember what happened to her to bring her here, but her thoughts were distracted from the sudden appearance of a man inside the room. She gasped at the sight, startled, and nearly fell off the bed as the man quickly went to her aid, just before she slumped over the edge.

"Woe there. You sure have a habit of falling. Not a good habit to have for an assassin."

When the word _assassin_ rung through her head she then immediately remembered the previous day's events.

"Ezio?" She stated the name in question as the man had placed gentle strong hands upon her arms to bring her back to the bedside.

"Glad to see you still remember. Are you feeling any better?" Laying back down upon her  
pillow, taking in a deep inhale, she replied, "I'll live. I've suffered worse before."

"Sorry to hear that," Ezio naturally giving a sympathetic view to think that a woman had to endure such pains. Now that they were in more private of quarters, Ezio lowered the hood upon his head as Ealasaid blushed. He was a gorgeous man and a gentleman as well. Although she preferred most of the time to be treated as an equal, being a woman had its strange benefits as it felt she was getting extra attention in a gentle and courteous manner, something she was not accustomed to. It was nice in comparison to her clan back at home. Her father showed affection in his own way, but it always felt rational and logical with a cold approach, never quite comforting enough. And because of the life she had chosen, there was no time for romance even though she greatly desired to be with someone one day. The one lover she had in the Fidelio clan only proved to be a great disappointment after finding him in bed with another woman. That was the first time in her life that she truly felt provoked to end a life.

"The doctor told me you had previous injuries before even coming here. I'm guessing you left home on unfinished terms?"

Thinking about her clan made Ealasaid remorse considering everything that had gone wrong let alone her family being in danger. She longed for finality in the ensuing situations at hand, but she knew that it would be a while before any closure could be grasped.

"If you're not comfortable speaking about it, don't feel obligated to tell me, but we can save that conversation for later after you've rested. In the meantime I'd like to take you to a friend of mine so you can rest in his home as I'm going to assume you have nowhere to go?"

"No," she sighed, feeling bad that she was going to be a burden.

"It's nearby. It won't be much of a problem."

"I'm sorry," she simply stated as Ezio cocked his eyebrow.

"For what? Making my day a bit more interesting?"

That managed to get a chuckle out of her as she smiled at him into those dark Italian eyes.

"Actually I should be the one to apologize. I knew you were running in the back distance behind the guards that were chasing me. I thought by easily diverting them to the ground level would help you, but it in turn made it worse. I thought you could have taken care…"

"…its alright. There's no way you could have known I was injured previously. And thank you for considering me able to take care of myself in a chase. If I was in tip top condition I could have just as easily gotten away, but my injuries slowed me down. I'm just glad you got to me at the last second before it was too late."

He smiled back at her as the doctor came back into the room. "Alright, I've done everything I could to help mend your wounds. Take this embalming liquid and put it over the cuts and bruises when changing your bandages. You should be able to notice a dramatic difference within a few days."

"Grazie molto, doctor."

"Si, si, just take better care of yourself signora."

Carefully sitting over the edge of the bed, she slowly began to stand to her feet as Ezio was quick to aid her balance. She used his arm to keep herself from staggering over as a near fainting spell hit her, but just as quickly passed.

"I would be grateful if you could help me into my robes…"

"…naturally," he agreed without hesitation as he grabbed her clothing and weapons, gently helping her into them as one by one she was shrouded once again in raven black assassin clothing.

"The blood stains…are gone?" She wondered as she noticed her outfit was completely blood free and patched up where she had been stabbed.

"While you were resting, I took the liberty to get your uniform patched up and cleaned. Didn't want you to start your day with bloody clothes. Only brings unwanted attention."

"Thank you so much. If only I knew how to repay your kindness…"

"…you can repay it by indulging me with answers to my questions, but first let's get you to Leonardo's shop."

"Thee Leonardo da Vinci? So it's true then that you two are friends."

"Yes, he has helped me greatly…"

"…in your search for a piece of Eden…"

"…ah so you know of them?"

"Yes. It's one of the main reasons I came to look for you."

"Why am I not surprised?" He rhetorically stated in sarcasm as he began to reach one of his arms under her legs.

"No, no it's quite alright. I think I can walk…"

"…oh, but I insist," he stated simply as he picked her up into his arms without question. She felt herself blushing as she was yet again being carried.

"Is this how you always treat the ladies?"

He smiled with courtesy, "What can I say? I've always had a soft spot for damsels in distress."

"Yeah, well you'll quickly learn just how much of a damsel in distress I am _not_."

_-2 Days Later-_

Feeling replenished from her injuries, Ealasaid was finally able to move herself around with a bit of more ease, but no more time could be wasted. Whether Ezio knew of Borgia or not was irrelevant as she at least had to warn him and do what she could to help him. Slowly getting out of bed she found her assassin robes folded and laid nicely upon a nearby tabletop, but next to the robes was a simple yet beautiful casual dress and a pair of shoes to go with it. She wasn't particularly fond of wearing dresses or feminine garments, but seeing as how Ezio had helped her thus far, it was only a simple courtesy to return in gratitude by indulging him in seeing her out of her much more concealing assassin uniform. Nonetheless she was flattered by the notion and yet more money he had spent on her. Slipping into the dress she found it to fit perfectly, causing her to blush at the thought that he was able to figure out her size so easily. Even though putting on the dress required much less movement then her assassin robes, it still proved difficult to stretch her muscles from the soreness of her wounds and seeing as how binding her breasts would only compress her ribs further, she decided to let her breasts naturally fill out the bust of the dress.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, "Come in."

It was Ezio as he entered casually, his hood brushed back from his face as he smiled at the sight of her.

"Ah good, the dress it fits you."

His gaze was much stronger upon her as she seemed completely different out of her robes; her hair unbound and snuggling along her shoulders, shimmering in the light and adorned upon her face was a bit of makeup. Dare she say he seemed a bit…nervous?

"What's wrong? Have you never seen a woman in a dress before?" She asked in near chuckling sarcasm.

"No, I've just never seen an _assassin_ in a dress before."

She chuckled out further from the thought.

"I hope you like it. I wasn't sure what color you favored."

"You hit the nail on the head actually. Blue is my favorite color. I can't…thank you enough…"

"…well if you feel that bad about it I could think of _one way_."

He began to approach her with sensual stepping strides. She blushed heavily as he placed his hands on the desk on both sides of her, getting in real close. She wasn't used to such quick advancements and in such a short time of knowing the man. It left her speechless.

"You could ease my mind by staying here. I can tell how much you are favoring your left side. You are nowhere near any condition of walking around let assassinating."

"You're that concerned about me?"

"Well, let's just say it's not every day that I get to meet a fellow assassin who is in a dress."

She wasn't sure entirely of what he meant by his advancement, but she could no longer resist placing her hands upon his chest, taking in his scent as the heat from his body radiated off his pectorals.

"I'm sure you're not used to this sort of question, but may…I kiss you?"

He was surprised at first, but then a gentle smile crept along his face and then he simply leaned forward and drew in a kiss from her. Placing her hands on both sides of his face, he brought her in closer to himself, taking mind of her injuries. Maybe it was good that she was so injured for had she not been, she might have let him just make love to her right then and there. Needing a breath from the kiss, she withdrew back as she caught his inviting gaze. Sudden footsteps entered the room.

"Signor Ezio, I have finished decrypting another co…" his sentence caught midway as he looked upon Ezio and Ealasaid "…oh…forgive me I did not mean to interrupt."

"Ha, ha, Leonardo it's quite alright. I was just…helping her into her dress."

Leonardo merely and casually replied back in sarcasm, "I'm sure you were. Well, come to me when you are ready."

"Yes, its about time we talked."

The ice was sure enough easily broken as she sat down with the two at a table and explained everything; Borgia and her previous targets, the fall of her clan, how she ended up in Italy, the treasure of Eden, and soon enough her proposal on helping Ezio bring down the Borgia influence permanently."

_Exiting memory block... … … …entering Animus desktop… … …entering hibernation mode…_

The top of the Animus finally rolled off as Lucy unhooked Crystal from the I.V., shaking her head from feeling like she had dementia. Slowly sitting up from the Animus, she turned her sights to Lucy.

"I was right about my ancestor having direct ties with Desmond's. Borgia's dealings stretched further than I thought, but I'm surprised Ezio and Ealasaid never officially got together. There seems like such chemistry between the two, but she eventually got together with someone else…ow…my head. I don't think I'll ever get used to that thing."

"Love is funny sometimes. Get some rest. First time users can get a little antsy after their first session."

"Yes as if holding the girl's hand gets us very far," Shaun snidely commented with a typical British attitude.

"Nice working with you too, Shaun." Crystal replied in quick sarcastic distaste.

"Well whatever. I'm going to get a short nap in and we can continue from there."

Venturing back to the room to rest, she found Desmond to occupying the second bed. He was lying on it with his eyes closed as she crept in silently to make sure not to wake him.

"So how'd it go?" He suddenly asked, startling her, "Oh! Sorry dude, didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't. Don't worry about it. How did the session go, anything new?"

"The session went fine considering it was my first time. And Shaun is just as dickhole-ish as ever."

"Heh, heh, yeah he's that way with me too."

Pouncing upon her bed she laid on her stomach, resting her head into her folded arms. The room was as dull as any room could be with only one color of paint, two beds, and some carpeting, with nothing else to add to the scenery.

"Its weird being able to see your ancestors over multiple centuries like it's a movie."

"Yeah, takes some time getting used to. I heard your ancestor had some nasty injuries."

"Yeah, that wasn't very pleasant. I think in some aspects she's stronger than I am. Thank god we have anesthetics today."

"Yeah."

The two exhaled simultaneously as they caught each other's gaze. Crystal blushed slightly as she couldn't help but notice the similarities in his features compared to his ancestors.

"Hey, it'll be okay. We'll make it through this," he encouraged. His statement took her by surprise. She guess he could tell the discomfort on her face as well as the body language.

"As long as you're here, I know we can."

And then, he smiled at her.


End file.
